110 replies to this topic

[Dan62]

John, your symptoms sound more like a fault with the smart charge circuit and its probably the alternator or less likely the cable between the alternator and the ECU.
The battery light is signalled from the ECU indicating insufficient charge, I am guessing that the smart charge circuit compares the voltage it demands against the voltage it senses and turns the light on if its out of spec.

As previous members have said, a new battery wouldn't be a bad idea especially seeing that its not the original battery and if your going for the battery I hope I'm wrong and it fixes it. From past experiences throwing £ at parts trying to fix a fault is costly and annoying.

Good luck and keep us posted.

D.

[johnH]

hi, thanks for the reponses. i was thinking it could of been either battery, alternator or the harnesses for the smart charge (apparently its common).

but i figured if the alternator on the car is knackered, i wouldnt of been able to cover that amount of miles without the car stalling out due to loss of electrical power.

i also figured that the alternator would not of compensated for the loss of voltage, if the smart charge system was faulty.

and from deductive reasoning it leaves battery. it also makes sense to say the battery as when you turn the ignition to position 2, the battery light comes on (normal), turn it position 3 to start engine and it stays on without flickering etc (not normal).

i hope that makes sense

[Dan62]

I'd agree with you about the light on a conventional alternator system where the lamp is fed from the alternator.

As for deductive reasoning you now have a piece of technology that is turning the light on and maybe putting the charging circuit in limp home mode.

Technology is great until it goes wrong.

D.

[johnH]

i'd agree with you on that one - "technology is great until it goes wrong"

well its as quite a few people have said, it wont harm to change the battery. and i always find its the simple things that need rectifying which normally sorts the complicated out.

if it turns out its not the battery then, a harness from ford for the smart charge is apparently around £30. if that doesn't work, then its alternator but in the mean time of buying a new battery and harness im possibly being a little proactive in preventing a fault from occuring, if that makes sense haha. sure im spending money but atleast its not the £150 for a new alternator straight off haha

[jeebowhite]

The ford alternators are a sham! mine died after only 47000, my father in law had racked up nearly 80000 before his went, but yes, the smart charge is a very common failure, apparently if that goes it can wipe out a lot of the powerboard. When I asked about the battery at Ford, and asked what else it could be, he said the Gem board(?) could be taken out if the smart charge fails, and the bill could rack nearly £500...

a £94 battery fixed it - Ha!

Moral of the story... dont let Ford try to diagnose over the phone as they will ensure you have kittens!

[johnH]

hahah i think thats the same for all dealers lol i know for a fact peugeot will say we will need £90 just to diagnose it....blah blah blah. and while its there claim that there is something seriously wrong with the car, when there isnt...money grabbing *insert word here* lol

[johnH]

just had it to a garage who did a free check for me, apparently the light will not come on if it was the battery. but they suspect the alternator as they tested it and it appears when you rev the engine the alternator frees itself and acts normal...so it sounds like a new alternator...why does this have to be so awkward....

[artscot79]

just had it to a garage who did a free check for me, apparently the light will not come on if it was the battery. but they suspect the alternator as they tested it and it appears when you rev the engine the alternator frees itself and acts normal...so it sounds like a new alternator...why does this have to be so awkward....

dont understand what they mean by free itself the alternator when under electrical load will show a lower voltage ie 13.5v when you rev the car it should increase up to say 14.4-14.9v with no electrical load it should read 14.4v -14.9v smart charge charges the battery at a higher voltage based on lots of issues the voltage with a high load on sitting idling will not jump up to 14.4 on its own as the alternator is not spinning fast enough so accelerating spins it faster and it charges ide look for a second opinion particularly if its not a ford garage as most garages dont know anything about smart charge the light doesnt come on if its the battery but can give a flicker showing a low voltage as its not charging fully with a faulty cel. the alternator voltage should be 14.4-14.9 with no load mate so if as you say its 13.4v all the time then summats wrong with the alternator

[johnH]

thanks, yeah it was a small garage just outside of whitby but know there stuff, been recommended loads around here... im still thinking battery to be honest with you... i couldnt check the load bit as i was by myself. but im going to get a battery anyways to see if that helps and if it works...bonus..if not alternator it is...just hoping it isnt haha

how much do ford charge nowadays for a full diag on this?

thanks again

[jeebowhite]

when my alternator went, it was a £60 diagnostics fee, and then about £360 for the new alternator, and fitting!

[johnH]

oh! i think i will just go and get diagnosed by them for £60, see what they offer me in terms of new alternator (if its that) and fitting....if its that much i will just buy a new myself and fit it myself. goes to show that dealerships are in fact should be called stealership daylight robbery...

i was told that i can have the alternator refurbished for £90. this was over the phone...is this a good idea?

[jeebowhite]

Refurbished over the phone, theres a new one sounds like they may hold up a video call and talk you through it! lol

I probably wouldnt get it refurbed unless you get a guarantee with it, but overall, you may as well go and buy one from a scrappy instead of refurbing it, probably cheaper in fact and you could get it for a car with less age / miles!

[johnH]

haha sorry i meant they told me over the phone that the unit can have a chance of being refurbed. i was doing a lot of reading regarding the ford smart charge last night. found some piccys of the harness being corroded etc and the random faults that causes. so im going to take the harness out and do some further tests to see if its bodged. i also read that the battery having faults could also cause this fault as it is part of the smart charge system (obviously) and as it is because the light stays on people on the ford transit forum say battery.

i have a elm327 coming, might hook that up and see what that says...if anything.

[johnH]

sorry to be a pain the behind...but ive done some reading up.

it appears if it was a harness fault, the light would go off and come back on after 20-30secs and would be intermittant at times.

if it was the alternator i strongly beleive that the car would of died by now and not being able to cover over 300 miles now.

so that leaves the battery...does that sound reasonable or am i blowing smoke.

i was reading somewhere that when i was doing the tests with the multimeter i saw the voltage which did look low, but apparently the car loves amps, so when i got my results they were practically not good enough ie. good voltage pants amps. is this true?

[jeebowhite]

Could be the case, if the acid in the battery is "damaged" for lack of a better word (i.e. if it has been flattened, or is aged) then it wont be as healthy as in its younger years. If I remember right from my schooling days, Voltage is the current, and the speed at which it moves, the ampage is the "oomph" behind it.

Either way, I think you can safely rule out the alternator. Other than that, I would suggest if you dont want to dive into buying a battery, swap it with a friends, see if there foco starts to get the errors and yours behaves!

Im 99.9% confident that when you buy a new battery, your foco will be happy once again!